JERUSALEM — Palestinian leaders yesterday reasserted the right to unilaterally declare an independent state in the absence of a peace deal with Israel, responding to Israel’s own threats of one-sided action.
The go-it-alone declarations reflect both sides’ frustrations with more than three years of fighting and stalled peace talks.
The PLO Executive Committee, one of the Palestinians’ key leadership bodies, met Friday night to discuss the ongoing conflict with Israel and reiterated the right to declare a state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Arab parts of Jerusalem — lands that Israel took control of in the 1967 Middle East War.
The Palestinians’ path to statehood has come under question amid warnings from Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that he could give up on peace talks and draw a boundary that would leave the Palestinians with much less land than they seek.
Mr. Sharon recently outlined a plan under which he would withdraw forces from parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, dismantle some Jewish settlements and draw his own boundary between Israel and the Palestinians if peace talks remain stopped.
Yesterday, Saleh Rafat, a member of the PLO committee, said Israel’s actions will not prevent the Palestinians from declaring “an independent Palestinian state within the 1967 border.” But there are no immediate plans to declare a state, Mr. Rafat said.
Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat also emphasized that a “two-state solution is the option of the Palestinian leadership.”
Sharon adviser Dore Gold said a hasty Palestinian declaration of statehood would lead to instability.
“There are no shortcuts to peace,” Mr. Gold said. “The way forward to peace … requires a dismantlement of terrorism and an unconditional cease-fire.”
From exile in Tunis, the Palestinian National Council declared an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza in 1988 — a move that was never recognized internationally.
In 1999, Yasser Arafat threatened to declare a state again, but backed down after then-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would annex parts of the West Bank in response.
Now, the Palestinians face threats from Israel that they could be left with far less territory than they’ve sought.
Some Israeli officials believe the Palestinians are seeking a new strategy — waiting for demographics to resolve the conflict. Experts have predicted Palestinians will outnumber Jews in the coming decades.
About 3.5 million Palestinians live in the West Bank and Gaza, in addition to 1.2 million Arab citizens of Israel. About 5.5 million Jews live in Israel.
In an interview Thursday, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia said if peace talks fail and Mr. Sharon follows through with his “disengagement” plan, the Palestinians would push for a single binational state of Arabs and Jews.
Such a scenario would spell disaster for Israel’s Jewish character, because the Palestinians’ higher birthrate would soon put Arabs in the majority.
A decade of peace talks in the 1990s always aimed for a two-state solution, and the latest peace plan — the U.S.-backed “road map” — calls for a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza by 2005.
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